


Stones and flowers on the ground, we are lost and found, but love is gonna save us.

by aratheli



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/F, pre-Steven's birth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-01
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-07-05 06:13:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15857853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aratheli/pseuds/aratheli
Summary: Pink Diamond feels worthless.  She doesn't know what the Diamonds have in store for her.  Only when her pearl arrives does she feel like she matters, like she's appreciated in her efforts to become a true Diamond.Blue Diamond feels hopeless.  There's so much in raising a Diamond that she never knew, for she never acted this way.  But just when her emotions get the better of her, there's Yellow, bringing her into her embrace, and everything might just work out.Yellow Diamond feels helpless.  No matter what she's done to discipline Pink, nothing seems to work.  Despite all this, she knows that her and Blue can manage anything, even if it means taking White Diamond down a notch to protect their...what is it Pink called it? Daughter?White Diamond doesn't know what's coming.





	1. Chapter 1

There are times few and far between on homeworld that make any sense at all, Pink has learned.  No one can command an army better than White. No one can control a gem like Yellow. No one can make someone crumble like Blue.  These are all facts adding up to this moment. For here, as she waits for the pearl assigned to White, to finally talk about how far she has come, she is nervous, but collected.  She knows what is right and wrong. Finally.

 

What is it those humans called it, a grandmother?  That is like White. Grandmothers are filled with knowledge, experience and wisdom.  Grandmothers know what to do in situations like this. Grandmothers are correct.

 

And granddaughters are not.

 

Pink almost sheds a tear at the thought, for she had been told by Blue several times that emotions are powerful things.  Maybe more power will come to her if she were to act like Blue. But--Yellow, furious but static Yellow, reigned over just as many colonies.  Maybe power will come to her if--

 

“Pink Diamond.”

 

Pink jumped, but was not so frightened by the sudden appearance; she was concerned with the actual one.  The last time she had been here, she remembered this pearl’s glossy face and tightly pinned hair, but not the giant crack that almost consumed her face.  

 

“They’re ready for you now.”

 

Before she could gather a thought, Pearl enclosed them in a bubble and they took off into the ship that belonged to White. 

 

Is a mother better than a grandmother?  

 

They arrived almost immediately, sadly, but Pink was ready to display her more mature findings.  This meeting was of the utmost importance, according to Yellow, so it was best to act on your best behaviour.

 

When the bubble came down, the menagerie in front of Pink was almost too alarming to describe.  White towered over Blue and Yellow, her radiance basking the room with too much light, the stars on her coat glimmering.  To her right stood Yellow, glaring upon the floor, and Blue at the left, holding her own hands. 

 

Pink’s throne manifested behind her and shoved her inside it, bringing her forward to meet the others.  The closer she was, the harder it was to remember everything she had practiced. One by one, thrones became visible behind their respective gem, and they all sat down to face each other.  A diamond with their colours was imprinted on the floor. 

 

“Hello my dear diamond, how nice of you to join us,” White began, her voice radiating through Pink’s every bone.  “We’ve done most of the work before you came, but there are still important marks to go over.”

 

Of course, Pink nearly mumbled under her breath.  Of course they started without her.

  
“Yellow,” White turned to her right and looked down.  “Will you go over the reports from the last colonisation?”

 

Yellow straightened.  “Of course. This last colonisation of the planet Raia was a success.  No hiccups in infiltrating the native’s land, nothing wrong with the planting of the cluster, and not a thing happened other than the planet’s complete destruction.  My colony is complete.”

 

“Excellent,” White said.  “Now Blue, if you could tell me about the last kindergarten on your planet Faoon.”

 

Blue seemed to snap back into reality, like she wasn’t paying attention.  “I…w-well, the colony...I mean, the kindergarten--” 

 

Pink watched as Blue seemed to stumble over her words, but her gaze drifted to Yellow, and something changed in her tone.  She was calm then, and carried on her report. Pink was puzzled. When she looked back at Yellow, nothing had been different but a softening in her expression.

 

“--everything worked out.  Faoon is to have its own cluster emerge shortly. Thank you.”

 

Blue sank a little in her chair and flashed a small smile in Yellow’s direction.  

 

“Pink.”

 

All eyes on her.  All attention. All the possibilities of something going wrong were finally here.

 

“Please tell us about your improvements you’ve made to the Yellow Army.”

 

She looked to her left--Yellow was frowning at her.  And to her right, Blue seemed hopeful but preparing for the worst.  Pink looked back up to White Diamond and noticed a faint lowering in her eyelids, like she was sinking into her fate.  Pink didn’t want to let her down.

 

But then she remembered the question.

 

She sat back in her seat and pouted.  “It’s fine, I guess. Yellow’s army is really, really, really, really, big, ya know?  I just don’t know why I don’t have my  _ own _ army.”

 

Yellow gritted her teeth.  Blue’s face twisted with agony, and she looked up at White.  The elder diamond stood, smile deceased, and her hand came up to point at Pink.  “You, my darling, are not ready.” Her finger started to whurr, and a single strand of light and power came to meet Pink in the face, stinging her.  “Blue, Yellow, I thought you had this under control.” Her mocking tone only made Pink’s pain worsen. She couldn’t see. “Keep your diamond in align and we won’t have any more trouble.”  

 

Pink was shaking until she felt two hands on her shoulders.

 

“I’m sorry, White.  We’ll try harder. She just didn’t know what she meant!   She’s confused!” Blue’s voice shrilled at the end of her plea, and Pink was able to surpass her pain and open her eyes.  White was a foot away, standing tall and bright, seething at Blue. Yellow walked over as calmly as she could and put a hand out in their defence.

 

“I understand that this will not be forgiven; please, White.  Give her a chance.”

 

“No second chance for the same mistake.”   White boiled. “Do not let this happen again.”

 

Pink remembers being dragged out, thrown over Blue’s shoulder, and set down on one of the steps leading up to White’s palace all in one fluid motion.  Pink doesn’t remember Blue and Yellow rounding the corner without her, arguing quietly. Her face felt funny. 

 

Why wasn’t she allowed to have any of her own things?  Why was she forbidden from having _anything_ the diamonds had?  Wasn’t she a diamond too?  Or did none of this matter?  Maybe she didn’t matter. To anyone.  

 

A tear slid past her eye and landed in her palm.  Even the smallest of things could be seen as an insignificance to the diamonds.  Her every breath, her every move needed to be carefully calculated to avoid a disturbance.  Perhaps it wasn’t worth it. She wasn’t worth it.

 

“My diamond!”

 

Pink slowly raised her head and glanced along the sidewalk where her pearl came running.  “My diamond, I’m sorry I missed the meeting, I--”

 

“No, don’t worry.  No pearls were allowed in.”  Pink Diamond stood and brushed off her pants, sighing deeply.  “Oh, Pearl. What are we going to do?”

 

“A-about what, my diamond?  We?”

 

Pink reached down and scooped Pearl in her arms, hugging her tightly.  She laughed slightly at the little “oof” that came out of Pearl’s mouth.  “It’s amazing how much you make me feel better.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> White Diamond is a force to fear. Blue knows this; Yellow catches a glimpse; Pink doesn't know a thing.

Blue, now nearly paralysed with fear, looked down at her feet.  Yellow, to her left, grunted quietly and folded her arms. White hummed to herself, opened her eyes, spread her arms wide and welcoming, and smiled wickedly.  “Sorry to keep you waiting, my dears.”

 

Neither smaller diamond responded.  

 

The smile died.  “So. Blue. I believe you have some explaining to do.”  White turned. “Pearl, please see Yellow out.”

 

A new wave of anxiety shot through both Blue and Yellow, making Blue’s stillness disintegrate and she began to shudder uncontrollably.  

 

_ What on earth, _ thought Yellow,  _ could terrify her so much?  I’ve never-- _

 

She was enclosed in a bubble then, and had no chance to react before she saw Blue’s mouth just before the bubble closed.   _ Stay. _

 

Before she knew it, though, she was outside of the palace, and had no way of getting back in.  The pearl disappeared in the cracks of the pavement, and she was alone. 

 

Yellow didn’t like it.  She didn’t like the fact that she couldn’t hear their voices.  She couldn’t see her. Blue was such a powerful being, yet so emotional and powerless at the same time, especially against someone like White, it seemed.  Why? No matter when Blue began crying, or the cause of her melancholy, because Yellow couldn’t help her. They had been working together for years, reigning for  _ eons, _ how on earth did Yellow not know her own companion?  What was she so afraid of? Of course, Yellow reminded herself, White Diamond was a force to be reckoned with; she was nothing to  _ not _ fear, that was for sure.  But Blue seemed to have some irrational fear of the diamond that Yellow couldn’t--

 

“Yellow!”

 

There was that to fear, too.

 

Yellow started, glaring down at the youngest diamond, and growled.  “What are you doing here?”

 

“I--” Pink’s face faltered, from happiness to confusion and something else, before she bowed her head and continued.  “I was going to ask grandm--er, White Diamond about my colony plans.”

 

“Your--your  _ colony plans? _ ”  Yellow raged, taking a step closer to Pink, taking the joy straight out of Pink’s face.  “ _ You _ will have no such thing.  I am your superior diamond, and if I say it isn’t happening, it  _ isn’t  _ happening.  You may have visited a planet for a specimen, but didn’t you run away to join the locals?  You cannot be trusted any longer with any--even a  _ miniscule _ task--and you’re making me and Blue look completely foolish!  Don’t you know what that does to us? To our culture?”

 

Pink’s tears had flown freely now, but they were not tears of sadness; they were tears of rage.  “Well--I don’t see any reason for me to  _ not _ have a colony!” she spat, stomping her foot.  “I’m sick of being the child of this matriarchy.  I’m a diamond, just like you!” 

 

“Remember your place,” Yellow simmered.  “Remember that no matter what you do, no matter what you say, you will  _ always _ be the inferior diamond.  Understood?!”

 

If there was something mature about Pink, it’s that she knew when to walk away, and Yellow could respect that.  Pink turned on her heel and walked in brooding all the way until Yellow couldn’t see her anymore, her Pearl tight by her side.  She had been staying away from the two diamonds all this time during their fight, and Yellow didn’t notice the gem until now. 

  
Yellow decided to walk in the opposite direction towards her palanquin, and contemplate the last stare Pink gave her.  It was a narrow-eyed one, filled with childlike pain and aggression, but there was something else buried beneath her intense look; there was something that said Yellow will regret this, Yellow will not win, and Yellow will be the first to know.  Only looking back on it now did Yellow realise Pink was smarter than she had thought. Yellow closed her eyes and sat in her palanquin;  _ Pink would get that colony _ , she thought,  _ and she would screw everything up, no matter what it takes. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading again! I really appreciate the comments!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, more on the way!


End file.
